


Dreaming of a better life

by AnnaCipactli12



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Betrayal, Complicated Relationships, Gen, Good vs Evil, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-06 16:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11040078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaCipactli12/pseuds/AnnaCipactli12
Summary: Two years before the battle of Yavin, Vader discovers a dark truth about his master and his late wife that takes him to the end of the galaxy where he finds the lady Mary leading a relative peaceful existence looking after her half-sister, the Princess Elizabeth. After Queen Anne finally gives England its long awaited heir, Vader strikes and captures what was once the pearl of Christendom. What horrors await the former Princess? Will she survive the intrigue and the plots against the Emperor or will she end up becoming another statistic?





	1. Chapter 1

**Lost Paradise**

I was born on February 18th, 1516. That is where my story should start but it doesn’t. To get to the heart of my story, you have to dig deeper.

I wasn’t always like this. Dirty and in rags. I was once a Princess, and as the King’s only legitimate heir, I was meant to rule after him. But then he fell in love with another woman and before long, my parents’ marriage was annulled and I was set to Hatfield, to serve my new sister.

I didn’t complain at first. The pope had decided it was fair but deep down I questioned my faith and every principle I believed in. It was not long before something happened that shook the foundations of not just my faith, but the faith of every living soul on Earth.

In the year of our lord, 1536, when Anne Boleyn had finally given the King what he most desired: a son, a messenger came from the starts.

I say messenger because unlike the prophets of the holy scriptures, he brought us a message of peace and love. There was nothing to indicate he was being deceptive. But people lie, some better than others and it was something I had learned all too well when I was young.

Every faith welcomed him. For a time it seemed like this would usher in a new age of peace and unity.

Oh, how wrong they all were. I never trusted him and his other ilk. I tried to warn him. But like Cassandra, everyone laughed at me. Then one day I woke up to the sounds of screams. I asked Lady Bryan, my sister’s governess, what was going on and she pointed to my sister’s bedchamber. I sunk to my knees and screamed. My sister, my little Bessie as I called her, was on her bed. Her eyes closed, her rosy lips drawn upward into a smile. It looked like she was sleeping but I knew better.

“Who did this?!” I bellowed. Since Lady Bryan was too distraught to take charge, I did. The maids cowered as they suddenly realized that they were standing in the presence of Catherine of Aragon and King Henry’s daughter, not just some random bastard.

They all shook their heads. I asked again and one came forward and said that there was a man in a black suit.

“Vader.” I whispered. I told everyone to leave and go straight to the King. Lady Bryan, finally back to her senses, protested but I had no time to hear her shrieks. I pushed her against the wall and told her we either go or stay here and perish.

The King’s son was all that was left of His Majesty’s legitimate line. If he falls, then England would go into chaos and I could just imagine what parliament would do in their desperation.

I was a survivor.  I was not going to be another royal casualty. The thought of dying alone in the Tower like the princes in the tower during Richard III’s regime came to me that night as my carriage rode towards the nearest royal residence. When we got there, it was in flames.

I made a run for it, as did Lady Bryan and the others but I never reached the destination. A dark armored figure pinned me against an oak tree. I would have laughed at how funny this all was, if I knew then what I knew now.

Darth Vader raised his hand and I levitated a few feet off the ground. “Who are you?”

“I am Mary, the King’s daughter, Catherine of Aragon’s daughter.”

I felt my throat constrict.

“You are not. Your real father took everything from me, including the love of my life.”

Was he as cruel as he was mad? He had to. All evil men were mad. It was whispered that Richard III poisoned his wife in a fit of rage after she discovered what she’d done to his nephews.  Would I suffer the same fate too?

I refused to be intimidated by this dark man. When his hold lessened over me, I was able to speak again and responded: “I do not know what you are talking about. I am King Henry and Catherine of Aragon, his first queen’s daughter!”

My mother was dead. My sister was dead. And my father and Anne Boleyn were likely dead too so who cared what I said anymore? It wasn’t like any of Cromwell or Cranmer’s spies were around to relay what I had just said and then accuse me of treason.

A chuckle could be heard from beneath that monster’s mask, one that sent chills down my spine. “So you have been lied to just like I have. Your father was not King Henry and your mother wasn’t the Princess Dowager. Your real parents are Obi Wan Kenobid and Padme Amidala, Queen of Naboo.”

“That is a lie!” I said hotly. “I am their daughter. My mother went to her grave fighting for my right to be queen. She would have never lied, much less on her deathbed.”

“Your mother knew the two of them when Earth had just discovered that they weren’t alone in the universe. She was among the first who formed a friendship with an other-worlder. When she discovered she couldn’t have children of their own, she freaked and asked God for a miracle. The Force heard her pleas and brought ex-Jedi Ashoka who asked her to look after you.”

“No, that is not true. My mother gave birth many times … she even had a child after me!”

“All failures. Tell me, didn’t you ever found it strange how all of her offspring died months after they were born or when they were still in the womb and yet somehow you managed to be the exception?”

“I was blessed by God.”

“You are as naïve as you mother and stubborn like Obi Wan. He too believed that he had a destiny until I showed him the power of the dark side.” He said. “Your mother accepted to look after you. In her mind you were child and no one else’s. She took the secret to her grave because you were all she had and she didn’t want to lose you.”

I tried to move but his telekinetic powers were holding me down. “She confessed to her best friend on her deathbed who you were and begged her not to tell her. Maria was not going to but her daughter, the Duchess of Suffolk, found her diary and she brought it to His Majesty who was foolish to bring it to me.”

“I still don’t believe you. My mother never lied. She would have died before raising a child born out of an affair.”

He chuckled. “She would have but she was distraught and as soon as she took you, she kissed you and Ashoka as those present in the room knew, you had become hers.”

He took off his helmet and his dark armor, including his cape. They fell swiftly and in his stead stood a handsome man. Like the devil, he strode forward and she levitated off the ground again. “I loved Padme more than I loved my mother. I never thought I could ever love someone that much but by the Force, it was possible. She took me entirely by surprise but then your father came and ruined everything. I always suspected there was something going on between them but I never imagined he’d take things this far.”

“You are wrong.” I hissed, feeling that invisible force clutching my throat again. “I am Catherine of  Aragon’s daughter and Henry VIII’s eldest child and I am not intimidated by evil men.” I finished, looking straight in the eye.

He smirked then with a wave of his hand I lost consciousness.

And this is when the next part of my story begins. I was lonely and afraid, lying face up, staring at the emptiness of my dark cell.

I whispered the people who had died. Elizabeth, my darling little Bessie. Regardless of all the evidence he presented me in the coming days, I will never cease to call Bessie my sister. Blood related or not, we were one half of each other. I thought I could never love the child of a woman who was responsible for leading my father stray but when I looked into that child’s eyes I immediately fell in love. I found a new purpose in life which was to protect her.

When Darth Vader’s troops killed her, they killed a part of me. There is no substitute for a soul, I can guarantee you that.

I spent the days counting how many times I had woken up to Bessie’s cries or cheers. How many times I had swung her after she became two. How many times she ran into my arms despite Chapuys’ warnings that she would grow up to be the greatest thorn in my ambition to become queen.

All those memories are now gone. He took them from me.

He took my little Bess and I want her back so much. Even if it is just to wake up to her cries and then to hear her aunt, Madge Shelton, shrieks, and Lady Bryan’s threats that she would beat me if I failed to make her happy.

I would gladly have all of that back.

* * *

 

Another day. Another night. Or is it another midday? I sometimes like to think it is midday because that way, the fact that it is the middle of the day doesn't make a day too long or to quick and I feel less older. I have a mirror and artificial light that I can turn on whenever I want to so I know that I am not physically old but I do feel like it.

My skin has turned paler, although for some reason my lips are still pink and so are my cheeks. I wish I wasn't a dark beauty. My hair used to be darker, now it is light copper which means that I will be attacked by Darth Vader's guards again.

They are called stormtroopers and it is an appropriate name since they bring a terrible storm whenever they visit me. Last time they said that they were going undress me and have "a go" with me when Vader wasn't aboard the Executor. I snapped back at them, reminding them that if they harmed Vader's little rag doll, he'd kill them and their families in ways they never imagined.

They didn't listen to me and slapped me. Now that I hear the sound of boots, I know my time is coming and if Vader isn't here, nothing will save me.

I am doomed.

* * *

 

Vader is here and it is not the soldiers that come but him. He is without his armor. "I do not need it anymore thanks to you. Since our little fight, the holo cameras took a shot of me and since everyone knows the true face of fear, there is no need to hide my face behind a mask. It is funny really. I was always accused of being too rash, then I put up a mask and I am thought of a monster while the Emperor is seen as magnanimous. I could never understand little minds, much less those of an ignorant planet such as the one you were raised in."

"Why have you come here?"

"To kill you. Or at least, that was my initial purpose before the Emperor foresaw something greater for the both of us."

"I do not like how this sounds." I say. A future with him is the last thing I want. "I would rather drink arsenic."

"Like Socrates. He was forced to drink poison rather than accept the established truth by his government, wasn't he? Plato was his student and according to your records, a favorite of yours."

"Yes. You know everything there is to know about me so you must know that I will not be tied to you in any manner."

"You have such a way with words Mary Kenobi, but you have no choice." Vader said smiling at my discomfort.

"Please don't do that."

"What?"

"That." I say referring to his smile. "It makes me uncomfortable. I don't care who my real parents were. I was raised on Earth by Catherine and Henry. I might not have their blood but they are still my mother and father."

"Beautifully put, just like your mother, my wife. But your fate is not up to you anymore than mine was up to me. As a former Princess, you should have already learned that."

"I learned that much better than you and the empire will ever understand what duty, loyalty mean. I was raised by good people, you have raised an army of killers. A king rules when he is both loved and feared. Fear alone will only get you so far until someone stands up and says enough is enough and when that happens, more people will rally to his cry and you will find yourself empire another footnote in the pages of history."

"The first Sith Empire ruled for a thousand years. Ours will rule longer."

"Based on what? What the Emperor dreamed up in his sleep? No empire that has relied on fear survives. And I guarantee, history will not be kind to you when they look back and see you for who you really are, tyrants!"

"You are as passionate as your mother and father but even they knew when to be silent." He told me and I suddenly found myself unable to speak. I tried to open my mouth but it was sealed shut.

"You will see things our way in time or you will see more of your loved ones die." My eyes widened. "I see, I have your attention now. Your sister's death was a tragic loss but there are others that managed to escape the purge. They are here aboard this vessel and if you do anything to displease me or the emperor they will be tortured until they are on their knees begging me to kill them."

 _You monster!_ I think and the mirror next to me shatters and a few pieces are sent flying towards him but he stops them when they are an inch away from his face. "You are learning to use the Force. But you are still clumsy. I can teach you more if you let me."

I'd rather die. He chuckles, sensing my anger. "There is no escape from this nightmare, my lady. In this fairy tale the dragon wins and the princess stays captive forever."

No! I refused to be this creature's concubine! He orders his guards to escort me to my new chambers. When I am finally able to speak again, I curse him. 

Damn him! If they think that they can break me and twist me into another creature of darkness they are wrong. I meant what I said earlier. I might not have their blood, but I am still their daughter, and as the only surviving child of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, I will find a way to break free of this nightmare.


	2. Tougher than you think

“Let me go! I said let me go you pair of apes!” But they howl back at me to stay put. Who do they think they are to shout this way at a King’s daughter? I must be strong. Like my father before me. Henry VIII was many things but a weak man, he wasn’t! He would have acted. Kicked and barked orders at his guards to arrest anyone that came within an inch away from hurting him or any other member of the Tudor House.

But I was powerless. What would happened would happen and I could do nothing but wait.

“Silence!” The Emperor says and raises a hand. The Stormtroopers let me go and they leave. I would commend his show of strength if it wasn’t for his sickening appearance. He is the devil alright.

“I am not the devil.” His cackling is infuriating to hear as it is to look at his decrepit form. “But you know the old phrase, better the devil you know. Your lady mother was a wise woman with a gentle soul but she was hampered by too much self-doubt. She did not know who to choose but she chose your father’s best friend and former apprentice because she had known him since he was a child and she felt pity for him. Your father on the other hand, was inconsolable after the death of his poor duchess and she reminded him so much of her.”

“How do you know all of this?”

He motions to Vader who brings a black chest engraved with a golden heart and a sword in the middle. “Open it.” He tells me and I do. Inside is a holo-recording of them. I throw it across the room. “Why are you showing me this?”

“Senator Bail Organa found out about your mother’s marriage to Vader when he was Anakin Skywalker and after his apprentice left the order, convinced Senator Amidala to give the child to her. Ahsoka thought the child was in a good home and she was right. But the King always suspected something was off with you. That, and your mother’s record of miscarriages helped him reach the conclusion that you were not his daughter.”

“The concubine did. My father still called me his pearl.”

“He did that out of love for your mother, girl. Nothing more. He would have killed you if he could. But if you are eager to honor your King’s memory, the only way you can do that is by saying your little brother.”

I turned around and saw a grim looking alien woman carrying a baby. “Harry.” I would recognize my brother’s laughter everywhere. I ran up to her and took him from her arms. Although he and I were not as close as Bess and I were, he always seemed to sense my presence. “Baby!” I say, forgetting that I was in the presence of the two most hated people in the galaxy. He extended his arms out to me and I brought him closer to my face.

The Emperor put an end to this happy reunion when he told the sour faced alien woman to take him. I didn’t even fight. It would only end up causing him harm and if he was one of the few who managed to survive the purge, I wasn’t going to put his life in jeopardy.

I turn and face the two despicable beings. The Emperor must sense the hate flowing from me, because it is strong and I can barely contain it as I walk towards him and a few objects start to tremble. “You want to take my lightsaber to strike me down. Good, good, now you are learning to embrace your destiny.”

“I have no destiny but what I make for myself. If Your Highness were before great men, you’d have learned that by now.”

He cackles. I want to strangle him and boil him in hot water and watch as he pleads for mercy. I wonder if that is how Bessie pleaded for mercy before her attacker suffocated her. I breathed in. I am not going to let this monster turn me into him and much less make me his lackey’s whore.

The Emperor turns to Vader. “You will have a challenge my friend, trying to tame the wild beast. But patience is something I value, however lord Vader doesn’t have much of it and he will not put up with your rebelliousness, my dear.” He then orders his guards to take me back to my new cell.

I am assisted by two alien women. I prefer to think of them as informants but as the days turn to weeks, my hatred for them turns to pity.

Vader rarely visits me. When he does, it is to inquire over my most basic needs. Seeing that I have everything I could want to make this work, he leaves.

I wonder if it is my face that it is too painful or my eyes. Do I have his wife’s eyes or his master’s? And if it is the latter, does he see him, mocking me every time he visits me?

The two alien women tell me that life would be easier if I stop resisting. “Soon you will be his companion.” The green one who is called Chantal, says.

“Is that what they call concubine these days?” I ask, no humor in my voice. I dread that day and I know it is coming and that is why I dread it.

“It is an honor. Many high ranking officers have companions and their children get to be recognized as legitimate. You should be very proud.”

“Oh but I am. I am proud to realize that I am the bastard daughter of a harlot who couldn’t keep her legs closed for her husband’s best friend and a Jedi Master who was a hypocrite and a liar, and couldn’t control his lust. Such honor.”

The blue one with the longest tubes dangling from each side of her head, shakes her head and kneels before me to clean my hands. I had tried to escape last night by trying to go through one of the vents but all I got from that was two cut hands. The vents were not just sealed shut, when they opened, the metal strips were sharp as knives.

“Lord Vader wasn’t always like that. My mother used to work at the temple. When he was Anakin Skywalker, he saved her and dozen others from being sold into slavery. I was brought into the world thanks to him and his apprentice. His feats were legendary.” Alia said. “But like all heroes, he was eventually caught up in his dream and became the monster you see now. Not many people know this. They think that Anakin Skywalker died and a few who know the truth can’t come to terms with it, because it is too painful so they lie to themselves and say ‘it can’t be. He cannot be that hero with no fear’ but life isn’t always pretty. Even villains have their weakest spots and you might be his.”

I snort at that. “How can you expect a man like that to have any sympathy for the product of his wife’s love affair? He will kill me on our first night, I just know it.” I then ask, interested to hear more of her story. “If you knew what he became, why do you serve him? You, Chantal, and I can escape. You know some of the access codes and the three of us could make a run for it. Just tell me where my brother and the other members of the royal family are and I will make sure nothing bad happens to you.”

“I am terribly sorry, my lady. We wish we can help you but our duty is with lord Vader. We owe it to him.”

“What do you owe to him? The man who saved your mother is no more. He is gone and in his stead there is a monster using his face so he can take advantage of the debt your mother owes to him.” I tell Alia, holding her hand after she applies a salve and bandages on my hands. They are clear and almost naked to the eye but for a man like Vader, he’d easily figure out what had happened just by sensing my distress.

“Please, help me help you. I know the three of us can make out of here, alive. You have my word.”

“It is not your word that we do not trust. It is the rebel alliance.” Chantal says.

“We do not have to join the alliance if you do not want to. We can go elsewhere.” I offer.

“Where?” Chantal asks. “The Outer Rim? Earth? We would be easy targets there and I doubt that any of us would survive a life of hardship after being accustomed to Imperial _luxury.”_

“This isn’t living. Forced to serve a dark lord and comfort his future whore so she won’t come screaming after he plows her!” I say. If Sir Bryan were here, he’d be proud. The man had been after my hand and had even flirted with me by asking me disgusting questions. Like a novice, I pretended to be ignorant but deep down, I was repulsed that my father had sent Satan’s ambassador to test me as to whether I was a virgin or not.

“My lady, you must keep your voice down. Even sound proof walls still have potent ears who could relay what you say to the Emperor and you have seen what he is capable of.” Alia says.

Oh, I know. I remember my little brother’s face and I become calm again. But the anger is still there as I plead with them but once again, to no avail.

“We like you, my lady. We truly do and we feel sorry for you but there is nothing you can do. Perhaps one day, you will understand all of this.” Alia says. The two turn and are about to exit the room when I ask them: “What does he have on you? Is it your mother? Your relatives or is something else?”

They do not answer right away. When they do, it is Chantal who answers for both of them this time. In a solemn tone she says before heading out with Alia, “With Vader it is not just what he know about you that bounds you to him, but what you owe him before that.”

And just like that, the door closes, the security locks are activated and I am alone again.

* * *

There is a game I used to play with my mother when I was younger. It was called hide and seek. Someone hid and the other person was supposed to find you. If it was played by two people, the one who took the longest finding someone lost. But if it was played by more than two people, than the person who was found first was the one who’d be the one to look for the others afterwards. I always hated that game but I played it because my mother liked it and I didn’t want to disappoint her.

One day something happened. I wished I couldn’t be found and when my mother found my hiding spot, she couldn’t see me. At first I thought it was magic, then I thought it was a miracle. Now I see it for what it is: a curse.

A curse that was placed on me by my birth father. _Obi Wan Kenobi._ _If you are out there listening, I hope that you are burning in hell and if you are still alive, I hope you die a slow death and before that, I hope you suffer._ When it comes to articulate my thoughts when I am praying, I am not very good but when it comes to feeling hatred and anger, I am a natural.

You could say that after discovering what I am and that I have it in me, to ensure the continual existence of Harry and other nobles, I have no problem wishing ill on all my enemies.

I still meant what I thought before, when I came here. Losing Bessie was a tipping point for me. A part of me died and no amount of jewelry or comfort will ever bring it back.

 _Bessie would want you to move forward._ Aye, she would. But she is not here is it? _She is. In your heart._ That is laughable. Bessie is dead and she is not coming back and in a twisted way, I am envious. She won’t have to suffer the horror I will suffer, or have to endure the weight of her house on her shoulders like I will.

_Just because you do not see her, doesn’t mean you can’t feel her. You just have to open your heart and let go of your hatred. Forget Vader, forget Palpatine. Think of you and Bessie and you will make it out of this alive._

Sometimes I wish I didn’t have a conscience and I didn’t have so many conflictive thoughts. I absolutely loathe having morals and have a sense of right and wrong.

If I could erase all of them and become as conniving as the Emperor and Vader, I would. I would use my street smarts to build a name for myself and then wipe out anybody who stood in my way, starting with those two and then I would proceed to do the same with every Imperial officer until there was no Empire left.

But that is just a fantasy. Who ever heard of a woman, much less a whore, overcome such odds?

* * *

When Vader finally comes and by finally, I mean, he is there to do the dirty deed, he looks normal. He throws something at me. I am about to scream when he looks sharply at me. I look down and almost gasp.

It was my mother’s fur cloak. “She left me this in her will. The King said that it belonged to the crown now. How?” Most of England was now a desolate wasteland. How had he gotten this jewel?

“I have my informants. The Empire never misses anything. Before they burned London, they managed to get this out.”

I do not know how to respond. I want to tell him that giving me these gifts won’t change a thing. He is still my enemy and I hate him but I can’t help but feel joyful that something of Catherine of Aragon is finally with her daughter. So I swallow my pride and say, “Thank you.”

Sensing there was more for me to say, he pulled up a chair and sat.

“My mother meant me to have this when I became a wife. The irony.”

“We do not have to do this now. We can wait another four months”

“Is that how long it’s been since you put me in that whole and then dragged me from there into another cage?”

He smirks. “I hardly consider this a cage, dearest.”

“Do not call me that. You haven’t earned the right to call me that. Regardless of what people say, I am their daughter and by that I mean the daughter of Catherine and Henry VIII. They raised me. They loved me. She loved me.”

“You can choose to entertain those fantasies as much as you like but in the end, you will come to see things our way.”

“Our way? Is that how things are now? What happened to you? You used to be the star pilot of the galaxy and its greatest hero. Alia and Chantal talk about your feats like you were some kind of demi-god.”

“You really want to know the answer to that question?” Vader asks me. I nod. I do want to know. From what I have gathered he was a fine young man with so much going for him. How can someone who was once so courageous and good turn out this way?

“I wasn’t always this hopeful. I used to humor my mother that I would dream of seeing other places that were out of my reach. We were slaves, you see. And the thought of seeing her son sunk into a deep depression, contemplating suicide like the rest of the slave children in that dustball would have destroyed her. So I pretended. I accepted her gifts, smiled at her and every other person who remarked ‘what a fine you have Ms. Skywalker.’ And went back home telling her how great my day was. It wasn’t until I saw Padme that I finally learned what it felt to have a dream and for the first time in my life I felt hope.” He paused. “Your mother was everything that was good in the world and I convinced her to marry me, even though it was forbidden for Jedi to do so but she accepted. She and I were so happy … for a time. Then I started to become distant. I grew jealous and Padme eventually got tired of my jealousy. The rest, you’ve already been told.”

“I want to know the full truth. I want to know who my real parents were.”

“You shouldn’t make demands to the Emperor’s right hand. You won’t like the answers that come out of my mouth.” Vader tells me. I don’t care and after I insist again, he finally tells me.

And he was right. I do not like the answer he gives me and after he leaves, it leaves me feeling more alone. I was hoping that I would coax Vader into letting me see Harry. I was a fool for thinking that I could but it seemed like a good plan at the time.

I wonder, if my mother is watching over me. The simple answer would be ‘yes, she is’. But I am finding that many things aren’t as simple as I once them to be. Good and evil. Kindness and cruelty. It all seems relative now.

If she is watching me though, I hope that she can find a way for me to get free of this hell. I would rather die, beaten and starved to death, than live the rest of my life, tied to that monster.

‘She never cries’, my father used to say. _It is not much use now. Since he was never my father and I was never his daughter and that makes me exactly what his new wife and her religious zealots always said I was, a bastard._ And there’s no one to blame for my bastardry than my birth parents.

If they had not done what they did, none of this would have happened. Then the thought comes of my mother. She had told me the story countless times of how she prayed day and night to hold me. She said that I was God’s gift to her. I know that taking that away from her is cruel but I would have preferred her never to hold me, then have to suffer the awful humiliations she did later in life _because of me._

My father would have divorced my mother as soon as she handed him another dead baby. She would have been sad at first but in time, she would have moved on and probably, married someone who’d have made her happy and give her children of her own.

I guess what I am trying to articulate in my mind is that I wish that things were different so none of them had to endure the horrors they were forced to endure because of me.

_Pity is not going to get you nowhere._

No? I answer my question. It has gotten me this far. And if I give up now, my mother’s struggle would have been worth nothing. I owe it to her and to Harry, and everyone else whose lives hang in the balance, to keep fighting.

* * *

Vader visits me a week after and tells me that the Empire is planning something big and that I must be there. I ask him why. I already know the answer but I want to hear him say it.

“The Emperor wants to show the other star systems our strength in numbers.”

“You mean he wants to parade me as Augusts did Cleopatra as a warning for anybody who thinks of upstaging him.” I say as we board his ship. Harry is there with his nurse. I take him from her and place him in my arms. Despite Lady Bryan’s sharp remarks, she always highlighted how good I was around little children and how great of a mother I would be, if only my father let me.

Now that I have the chance, I want nothing more than to be cursed with a barren womb. My only interest in life is my baby brother and the others that survived that earth purges. If I am lucky, I will never have children with this monster or any other man.

“You know your history but the Emperor is not like the arrogant first Roman Emperor. He is a man of true power and in time-“

“I will see things, his way. I know.” I sigh. After Harry falls asleep with the lullaby I sing to him, I ask Vader, “How can you follow someone like that? Haven’t you ever wondered or … cared about anyone other than the Emperor.”

“I did.” He says with a harsh voice.

“I do not mean that. I mean now. Surely, your experiences as a slave would have made you more caring towards your other fellow humans.”

He sits across from me and says, “Let me tell you something, my lady. The universe is harsh and cold and it doesn’t give one fig about you or me. There is only one absolutely truth in it and that is everything has a price. If you want something, you get it no matter what.”

“That is a terrible philosophy to live by.” I say as if it is the most obvious thing in the galaxy. “What about your mother? What would she say?”

And as soon as the words escape from my lips, I know I’ve hit a soft spot. He stands and walks slowly towards me. If my back wasn’t against the wall, I would have backed away or would have run to safety but with him so close, it was impossible. I prayed that whatever he did to me, wouldn’t affect poor Harry.

“Do not mention my mother again. Concern yourself with your personal business, and leave me to my own designs. Understand, lady Kenobi?”

“Yes.” I say, feeling very small. After he leaves, I look down at Harry. “You are very lucky Harry. You are your father’s son. He loved you. He went through so much to get you and I am going to make sure that you survive all of this.” While we weren’t related by blood, we loved each other and if having to stand that awful man, meant Harry and the rest would live until I found a way to get us all out of here, then so be it. I am made of tougher steel than him and his cronies.


End file.
